Reed holder for looms



Nov. 9, 1937.

s. L. WEBSTER REED HOLDER FOR LOOMS Filed March 4, 1937 "WWW INVENTOR. AMUEL L. WE5S7EE. BY

W W ATTORNEY.

Patented Nov. 9, 1937 UNITED STATES REED HOLDER FOR LOOMS Samuel L. Webster, Hopedale, Mass., assignor to Draper Corporation, poration of Maine Application March 4,

Claims.

The present invention pertains to loom lays and has more particular reference to means for supporting a loom reed in the hand rail of such lays.

In looms of the type to which my invention applies, the reciprocating lay commonly includes a lay beam, a hand rail, and a reed supported either by the lay beam and hand rail or by a pivotally supported reed frame of which the hand rail is a part. The reed has a top rib which is received in a longitudinal groove formed in the under side of the hand rail,

An object of this invention is to provide a loom lay having a hand rail and a reed with a top rib positioned in a groove in the hand rail as aforesaid, and means carried by the handrail for firmly holding such reed rib against the back wall of the groove, whereby the reed is supported in proper position for beating in the picks of filling and cannot swing forwardly in the groove.

The aforementioned and other objects of the invention are accomplished in the construction illustrated on the accompanying drawing, of which:

Fig. l is a front view of part of a lay comprising the preferred embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a plan View, partly in section, of the hand rail of Fig. l; and

Fig. 3 is a view in cross-section taken approximately on line 3-3 of Fig. 1 but to a larger scale.

The loom lay of the present invention may include lay swords, such as the sword I shown on the drawing, a lay beam 2 having a shuttle box 35 3 thereon, and a reed 4, all of any suitable usual construction, and means for supporting the reed on the lay. The reed supporting means shown is of the spring reed type, the reed being fixed in a pivotally mounted reed frame.

This reed frame may include a hand rail 5,- a bottom rail 6 and end brackets 1 for rigidly holding the hand rail and bottom rail in spaced relation. Each end bracket 1 is pivoted on a bolt 8 in the lay sword, so that the entire reed frame and reed may pivot about a horizontal axis. Forward movement of the bottom of the reed frame may be limited by stop screws 9 in the lay and rearward yielding of the reed and reed frame may be resisted by spring means I0 acting on the bottom rail 6 and spring means ll intermittently acting on the end bracket 1.

The reed frame as thus far described, together with the spring means for resisting rearward 65 movement of the same, are not of the present in- Hopedale, Mass, a cor- 1937, Serial No. 129,005

vention they being disclosed and claimed in U. S. Patent No. 2,087,859. This particular construction is accordingly disclosed for purposes of illustration only.

The reed 4 consists of vertical dents which are fixed in a bottom rib I2 and a top rib I3. The dents and the ribs I2 and I3 may be of any suitable usual construction, but in the construction shown the reed ribs are of substantially rectangular cross-section. The bottom rib I2 is wedged into a groove in a strip I4 which is a fixed part of the rail 6. The bottom rib is thus firmly held in the rail 6. The top rib I3 cannot be merely wedged into a groove in the hand rail in the same manner as the bottom rib is wedged into the strip I4, because the reeds as made commercially vary in height and, furthermore, the distance between the hand rail 5 and bottom rail 6 of the reed frame is apt to vary slightly. The construction must be such that the reed is firmly held in the reed frame, without any possibility of looseness or lost motion, even though the reed or reed frame may vary in height.

In accordance with the present invention, the top reed rib I3 is positioned in a longitudinal groove I5 which is formed in the under side of the hand rail and which is appreciably larger than the reed rib. The particular groove I5 shown is rectangular in cross-section, see Fig. 3, and has a substantially vertical back wall I6. The depth of the groove I5, 1. e., its vertical dimension, is such that the top rib l3 will be positioned in the groove even though the height of the reed or reed frame may vary within ordinary commercial limits.

The top reed rib I3 is firmly held against the back wall I6 of the groove I5, and for this purpose I have provided a bar I! which is positioned in the groove I5 in front of the rib I3 and is urged rearwardly by spring means carried by the hand rail. The particular bar I1 shown is more or less rigid, it being constructed of one piece of wood or other suitable material and extending the full length of the groove I5 and rib I3. A portion I8 of this bar I! is substantially vertical and is in contact with the front face of the rib I3. A portion I9 of the bar extends rearwardly and rests on the top of the reed rib I3, whereby the bar is loosely supported in the groove I5 by the reed rib. The bar is of such a size that the bar and reed rib do not completely fill the groove I5, thus providing for reed ribs of varying thicknesses. I v

The above mentioned spring means for urging the bar l1 rearwardly preferably consists of a plurality of coiled compression springs 20 positioned in apertures 2| which are provided at spaced points along the hand rail 5. As shown,

each aperture 2| extends rearwardly from the front of the hand rail and opens into the groove I 5. Each coiled spring 20 is positioned in an aperture 2i and the rear end of the spring bears directly against the front of the bar H. The spring may be compressed by driving a wood plug 22 into each aperture in front of the spring, so that the springs act to urge the bar I! rearwardly,

It is contemplated that the spring means 20 above described shall be strong enough to firmly hold the top reed rib l3 firmly against the back wall !6 of the groove I 5 at all times.

The reed is, therefore, always in the same position on the lay prior to engagement with the filling (not shown) and its action on the filling will be more uniform than it would be if the reed were ioose in the hand rail. Looseness of thelreed in the hand rail, which I avoid, is also undesirable because it causes rapid wear of thereed rib and hand rail. It will be seen that I avoid such looseness by a construction which Wil1, as above stated, accommodate reeds of various sizes, and which is at the same time simple and inexpensive.

Having fully disclosed the preferred embodiment of my invention, I claim: M

1. A loom lay including a hand rail having a longitudinal groove in its, under side, a reed having a top rib positioned in said groove, a

. bar in said groove in front of said rib, and a plurality of springs carried by said hand rail and acting to urge said bar rearwardly to thereby hold said rib against the back wall of said groove.

2.A loom lay including a hand rail having a longitudinal groove in its under side, a reed. having a top rib positioned in said groove, a

rigid bar loosely supported in said groove in contact with the front face of said rib, and a plurality of springs carried by said hand rail at spaced points thereon, said springs acting to urge said bar rearwardly to thereby hold said rib against the back Wall of said groove.

3. A loom lay including a hand rail having a longitudinal groove in its under side, a reed having a top rib positioned in said groove, a rigid bar loosely supported in said groove in contact with the front face of said rib, said bar having a rearwardly extending portion resting on the top of said rib whereby the bar is supported by the rib, and a plurality of coiled springs carried by said hand rail and acting on said bar to urge the latter rearwardly and thereby hold said rib against the back wall of said groove.

4:. A loom lay including a hand rail having a longitudinal groove in its under side, a reed having a top rib positioned in said groove, a rigid bar loosely supported in said groove in contact with the front face of said rib, and a plurality of coiled compression springs positioned in apertures spaced along said hand rail in front of said bar, said springs acting on said bar to urge the latter rearwardly and thereby hold said rib against the back wall of said groove.

5. A loom lay including a hand rail having a longitudinal groove in its under side, a reed having a top rib positioned in said groove, a rigid bar loosely positioned in said groove, said bar having a vertical portion in contact with the front face of said rib and a horizontal portion resting on the top of said rib, and a plurality of coiled compression springs positioned in apertures,

spaced along said hand rail in front of said bar, said springs acting on said bar to urge the latter rearwardly and thereby hold said rib against the back wall of said groove.

SAMUEL L. WEBSTER. 

